Yesterday, July 15, 2007, the ONE gay and lesbian archives in Los Angeles, sponsored a showing of Jennifer Abod’s The Edge of Each Other’s Battles: The Vision of Audre Lorde which is a one-hour documentary (read description below). It was amazing, and though it was of great historical importance, it is also such a great organizing tool I want to organize a showing. I’m not sure when or where, it depends on how many folks are interested. If you are, please let me know so I can sort of plan whether I’ll be showing it at home over dinner with friends or if I should consider something l little bit bigger and more “official”.
If you can, I strongly recommend you contact Jennifer about arranging a showing or ordering a copy. I think that, even if you are not organizing a conference, but you have a group with whom you do political work, this would be so helpful. It’s very energizing, and moving, and emotional… Whether or not you’re a lesbian of color, there is no doubt that if you are politically engaged, this film will be fascinating and beneficial.
For me personally, getting to see Audre Lorde and hear her voice – I know I was already a big fan, but it sent shivers up my arms yesterday. She was/is so powerful. But the film is so much more than a documentary about Audre Lorde. “The Edge of Each Other’s Battles: The Vision of Audre Lorde” documents Audre Lorde’s social vision and the translation of that vision into a transnational conference which used her work, while celebrating her life. The film is a tribute to Audre Lorde’s legacy of politics and poetry. Primary footage is from the four-day Boston conference, “I Am Your Sisters: Forging Global Connections Across Differences,” where 1200 women and men and activist youth from 23 countries used Lorde’s work to address transcultural understandings of race, gender, sexuality, and class. Interviews with organizers/scholars Jacqui Alexander and Angela Bowen are intercut with conference footage, including performances, moving and passionate speeches, and controversies. This video is not a sentimental retrospective of Lorde, but an exhortation to activism that is lifelong and joyous.
Audre Lorde (1934-1992) has been intrinsically important to the development of second wave U.S. feminism. Author of 15 books of poetry and prose, she was poet Laureate of New York State from 1991-1993. She consistently challenged racism, sexism, classism and homophobia, serving as a catalyst for change within and among social movements, in which she herself participated: Black Arts and Black Liberation, Women’s Liberation, and Lesbian and Gay Liberation. A staunch internationalist, she connected women across the U.S.A., the Caribbean, Europe, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. She died in 1992 after a courageous 14 year struggle against breast and liver cancer.
Susan Forrest
Behavioral Health Services, Inc.
Community Assessment Service Center (CASC)